2003 Nightgaine

Upside Down Nightgaine, Kowen Forest, Midnight-8am, 7 September 2003

Course Setter’s Report
After organising three, four hour night events in the last three years, I decided I wanted to try something a bit more ambitious - an eight hour night event. Since very few people would want to finish at 2 am, it had to be an “upside down” (i.e. start at midnight, finish at 8 am).
If not already obvious, I am a fan of traversing the bush at night, and of night navigation. I was hoping that I might get a few people interested in doing likewise. Who knows - if enough people become interested, someone else may volunteer to organise/set the event, and I can participate. Please note however - I don’t like events in summer.

As a concession to the anticipated small numbers, Adrian and I decided that we (plus a few others) were capable of running the H/H catering (rather than employing the Aranda Scouts). As it turned out, the willing volunteers we had made it easy - and made the difference between a profit and a loss on this low fee event.

Despite a few doom-sayers (no one will want to do that), 58 people in 25 teams left the Hash House in Kowen Forest at midnight. The weather was ideal - fine, cool but not really cold, and with a nice moon (which would set a couple of hours before dawn, giving a bit of “dark”). Yours truly (a bit of a wimp really, despite the assertions of the earlier paragraph) retired to his vehicle and tried to get a few hours shut-eye.

Also pleasing to me was that my son, partnered by my daughter’s boyfriend, had decided (without any coercion on my part) to enter this as their very first event - a night event, without ever having done a daytime event. In the circumstances, they did reasonably well.

Waking at first light - around a quarter to 6 - I was soon greeting the first team to decide that they had had enough. They said that they weren’t discouraged by the event - just tired. Who could blame them? The best part of the event - the dark stuff - was over, and there was only a couple of hours of boring daylight to come.

A few more teams came in before 7 am to see if the Hash House was open (it was), but the majority saved their arrival until the morning was getting warmer - the last (a 3-girl team, finishing 2nd overall) with a bare 30 seconds to spare. Best from my point of view was that no one complained about a control location (one was “hard to find”, although correctly placed). Again, I had taken a punt (not really recommended) of not having an independent checker/vetter/control hanger for most of them.

Finally, my extensive thank you list:
• Adrian Sheppard, for pre-event admin, control hanging, H/H set up, breakfast cooking and H/H pack up.
• Kristianne Hermann, for admin assistance before the start (10 pm to midnight).
• David Singleton and Peta Jacobs, for breakfast cooking and H/H pack up (Peta also for putting up with my innumerable calls on Adrian).
• Benita Sommerville and Philip Keaton, for breakfast cooking and control collection.
• Leanne and Scott Wilkinson, for control collection
• All competitors, for making the event a success.